There Is No Map – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: Part of the Sacred Garden Walk at The Monastery, Adelaide.

“Not all those who wander are lost.” J.R.R. Tolkien (The Fellowship of the Ring)

There Is No Map

Lately I've noticed a change,
the streets no longer sign 
themselves as Main, Brown,
or lower whatever,
I hear they're buying in,
taking cover in context,
relatively speaking,
sending a signal
like a boatswain's pipe
squealing names we'd rather forget, 
though we well remember 
those avenues of sadness,
echoing memories of roads
we've all travelled;
deprivation alley,
abuse cul-de-sac,
assault road,
cancer circuit,
failure loop,
death row,
lanes of grief,
the streets of disillusionment,
left or right,
straight ahead,
it makes no difference,
life must be the journey,
there is no map.


Copyright 2023 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon 
All Rights Reserved ®️ 

19 Comments

Filed under awareness, Free Verse, life, poem, quote

19 responses to “There Is No Map – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

  1. Very ancient haiku:

    “O traveler
    There is no path
    The path is made by walking”

    Liked by 3 people

  2. Amy

    … no map, we’ll said.

    Liked by 2 people

  3. lync56

    Amazing poem – I love it

    >

    Liked by 1 person

  4. I think those paths are familiar to many… a lovely poem!

    Liked by 2 people

  5. bravo for painting our paths so vividly!

    And I know that path/monastery well, the Carmelites directly opposite used to let me retreat in their garden hut 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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